Analysts use this ratio to describe how inexpensive silver is compared to gold—like now. They also use the ratio to show long-term buy zones for both metals.

WHY?

Silver prices move up and down farther than gold prices. That pushes the gold-silver ratio too high, like now, when silver is inexpensive. Or it pushes the ratio too low, as in January 1980, when silver prices zoomed upward too far and too fast.

When the gold to silver ratio exceeds 80, it is often a good time to buy silver.

Publishing Note: I’m taking three weeks off for Christmas and New Year’s, and then a week for myself. Unless something huge happens in the coming month, expect my next article to be out the weekend of 19&20 January.

Mr Bear has begun clawing back inflated market valuations in the stock market. The Dow Jones has deflated by over 6% since last Friday’s close; everyone can see Mr Bear’s handy work in the BEV chart below.

Mr. Market the Great Deceiver

Markets are deceptive…but we all know that. Beyond deceptive, markets are actually down right diabolical. Mr. Market operates through his two most trustworthy lieutenants Mr. Bull and Mr. Bear. He has tasked Mr. Bull to climb and reach the top of the mountain using investors buying power to fuel the rise. But he has also instructed Mr. Bull to not allow those same investors to complete the journey themselves, he wants to reach the top without them. It’s a hard job to pull off and Mr Bull needs to use every trick in the book to throw off these investors after they use their money to power the trend upward. It’s a process that takes time and Mr. Bull’s prime tools are greed and fear in the minds of investors.

The mega-cap stocks that dominate the US markets are just wrapping up a truly-extraordinary earnings season. Naturally this first quarter under Republicans’ new corporate tax cuts fueled surging profits. But sales were up big too, which is no mean feat for massive companies. With sustained growth at this torrid pace impossible, peak-earnings fears are mounting. And valuations stayed extremely expensive exiting Q1.

Four times a year publicly-traded companies release treasure troves of valuable information in the form of quarterly reports. Required by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, these 10-Qs contain the best fundamental data available to investors and speculators. They dispel all the sentimental distortions inevitably surrounding prevailing stock-price levels, revealing the underlying hard fundamental realities.

Gold remains largely forgotten, off the radars of most investors. But that’s likely to change soon as this leading alternative investment is nearing a major bull breakout. Once gold climbs to decisive new bull-market highs, sentiment will turn and investors’ interest will surge. Their resulting buying will rapidly drive gold higher, attracting in more capital inflows. Gold is only a couple modest up days away from that key breakout.

Universally in all markets, traders’ psychology is completely dependent on price action and levels. When prices are high and rising, speculators and investors alike eagerly buy in. They love chasing winners, so buying begets buying. This creates powerful self-reinforcing virtuous circles, with rising prices helping to entice in ever-more traders. In recent years this dynamic catapulted the market-darling FANG stocks higher.

Silver has been dead money over the past year or so, relentlessly grinding sideways to lower. That weak price action has naturally left this classic alternative investment deeply out of favor. Silver is extremely undervalued relative to gold, while speculators’ silver-futures positions are extraordinarily bearish. All this has created the perfect breeding ground to birth a major new silver bull market, which could erupt anytime.

Silver’s price behavior is unusual, making it a challenging investment psychologically. Most of the time silver is maddeningly boring, drifting listlessly for months or sometimes years on end. So the vast majority of investors abandon it and move on, which is exactly what’s happened since late 2016. There’s so little interest in silver these days that even traditional primary silver miners are actively diversifying into gold!